Back Home Again in Indiana

(Elkhart, IN) Hi 78 Lo 56 -- I’m from the tiny Indiana town of Clunette, just north of Warsaw, and lived there till I was 18, when I moved to Florida. It’s grown a lot since the 60’s, but a lot of it is the same.

Today we headed to Nappanee for the Apple Festival. Our family went to the Apple Festival every year when I was growing up. I didn’t plan on being there long, I just wanted to buy some fresh, home grown apples. When we got there we walked around for a little while, then left before the parade started. There were lots of people and we parked a few blocks away from the main activity. I wanted a half bushel of apples, and you’d think there would be apples everywhere. But there were mostly vendors selling everything BUT apples. There was a couple of bins of apples for 50 cents each, and we finally found a tent that had cakes, cookies, pies, cobblers and a couple of types of apples sold by the sack. We bought a sack of Galas and a huge apple fritter.

There’s apple decorations all over town. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)




A car show was being held later today, and Jim really drooled over this 1965 GTO.


Some of the vendodors weren’t open yet.


We got a kick out of these giggly Amish girls looking at clothes that they're not allowed to wear. It's interesting that they dress in their traditional home made clothes, but they were all wearing very expensive looking athletic shoes.



There was a small midway with a few rides, but this one was the only one operating when we were there.


We left Nappanee and went to Clunette. This is the house I lived in during my teen years.


We went to my friend Evelyn’s just outside of town. She’s been like a second mom to me, and her 91st  birthday was this past week. She lives alone, still drives, and takes care of the donkeys and sheep on her small farm. She is such an inspiration to us!





Evelyn made us a wonderful lunch of chicken and potatoes. She has a very protective dog named Fido, who loves to play with her cat.


While in town I called my old schoolmate Beth, who invited all of us over to see her and her dad. She’s in the process of moving back to Clunette from Illinois. Her dad Jack is a hero of the greatest generation who earned a Bronze Star in World War II.

Beth and her dad Jack


We had a great time visiting, and after goodbye hugs all around we dropped Evelyn back at her house and headed straight back to the RV. There were severe storms on the way and we wanted to get home ahead of them. We did stop on the way at Rise and Roll, an Amish bakery shop, for some fresh donuts. We made it home before the rains came. But the severe weather thankfully went south of us.

It was a great day of visiting. We have more friends and family to see before we leave the area.

See you tomorrow.